Page 54 - Black Velvet Issue 91

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THE DEAD DAISIES / THE ANSWER / JACKAMAN – BIRMINGHAM 02 ACADEMY 2, 19.11.16
The Dead Daisies and The Answer have teamed up for a co-headline tour, with a rotating line-up, on you,” she sings, dedicating it to all the
each band playing for a solid 75 minutes. It’s a great bill for hard rock fans. females out there, who may have been in
Jackaman are on stage first, a project of female vocalist Lynne Jackaman, previously of Saint a similar situation. ‘Can’t Find My Way
Jude. She brings with her just one guitarist, Danny Page. Lynne has a stunning voice, planted firmly Home’ is smoother than a coconut coffee,
in the soulful blues rock world. Songs such as ‘Wasted’ are odes to a bad relationship. “I’m wasted with an almost gospel feel. Lynne im-
presses a lot, even if the style of music
isn’t your usual bag.
The Answer’s set is heavily focused
on their new album, ‘Solas’. They open
with the atmospheric opening title track.
For the first part of the song we can barely
hear frontman Cormac Neeson’s vocals,
although he and the band continue seem-
ingly unaware. Thankfully it gets sorted.
‘Beautiful World’ continues the ethereal el-
ement, it has an almost melancholy yet
ghostly air at the start before it kicks in as
a powerful rocker. These songs show the
progression of the band, moving on from
being pigeonholed as a classic rock band.
‘Tunnel’ sees Cormac on acoustic guitar.
It’s a slower, reflective number. ‘In This
Land’, meanwhile, sees guitarist Paul
Mahon playing mandolin and bassist
Micky Waters takes on the acoustic guitar.
Things get even more impressive when
Cormac brings out a bouzouki to play
‘Spectacular’ on. Lynne Jackaman joins
the band onstage for the upbeat ‘Nowhere
Freeway’, a song she sang on. Her vocals
really add to the song and it goes down
well. ‘Battle Cry’ ends the set on a hopeful
and promising note with its melodic Gaelic
chorus.
There’s one thing that The Answer, for
the most part, bypass, and that is catchy
hooks. The Dead Daisies have them in
abundance though. From the moment
John Corabi, Marco Mendoza, David
Lowy, Doug Aldrich and Brian Tichy walk
on stage it’s a non-stop high-octane en-
ergy fest. With their latest album being ti-
tled ‘Make Some Noise’, these guys
definitely make you want to. They are the
most wonderful smack in the face and
bloodrush to the brain you’ll probably ever
encounter. There aren’t many bands that
bring out consistently excellent albums
where every track’s a winner but The Dead
Daisies do, and this, in turn, means for an
excellent set that you can’t get enough of.
From the moment that ‘Long Way To Go’
begins, you’re in for a great ride. The best
thing about it is that there aren’t any slow
moments. Even when John Corabi asks if
the audience is ready for a ballad, he then
adds “our version of a ballad” – and then
the band play the balls-to-the-wall ‘Main-
line’, a rip-roaring song that creates even
more steam than the others in the set!
‘Lock ‘N’ Load’ is a driving summer song,
‘Last Time I Saw The Sun’ is infectious,
like most of the songs, while ‘Join To-
gether’ sees Marco Mendoza get offstage
and walk into the sold out crowd. Not quite
sure how he found room as it was packed
– and rightly so. Every time The Dead
Daisies play in the Midlands the shows are
sold out – it’s no wonder, UK rock fans
love them. We look forward to the next
time they come and play hopefully an even
bigger, sold out venue.
YYYYY
SBV
Top: Marco Mendoza & David Lowy (The Dead
Daisies) and Left: Cormac Neeson (The Answer)
Photos By Shari Black Velvet
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